Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share

By Kathy Gunst  Photos by Yvonne Duivenvoorden

Kathy Gunst’s Soup Swap story started six winters ago when her neighbour, Hope Murphy, suggested that they meet once a month to share homemade soup. Gunst, an award-winning journalist and author of 14 cookbooks, loved the idea, and they invited six food-loving couples that lived within 30 minutes of each other to participate.

One couple hosted, and provided salad and crusty bread; the others brought big pots of chili, chowders and more. At the end of the night, the leftovers were packed in to-go containers and divvied up for lunches etc. The dinners made long New England winters bearable — and even led to a more healthful diet for some.

Here are three of the best recipes from Gunst’s Soup Swap cookbook, published by Chronicle Books. Embracing flavours from around the world, they’ll warm up your winter kitchen and they’re perfect for sharing — or, of course, keeping all to yourself.